I felt badly for my dogs, especially the border collies, this winter. They’ve been unable to get out further than the back yard for mos, and the snow and ice are so high and thick they can barely do that. Cesar is right about at least one thing – dogs need exercise. They don’t need to run around all day, but they do need to move and so yesterday, when the sun came out, I got the ATV out of the barn and took Izzy, Rose and Lenore for an ATV ride. I took Frieda out once, but she kept going, halfway to Vermont. She doesn’t get to go on the ATV rides, not yet.

THey are a bit messy. My command is “stay, stay, stay,” repeated so that they can her me over the engine noise, and also “go, go, go” the command to run ahead of the ATV. Rose always pauses at the end of the run to get behind me and try and herd the ATV. Border collies can be very smart. Border collies can be very dumb, something you don’t read about in all of those stories about how many words they are learning each year, and how many chess games they are winning.

Anyway, I brought the video camera along and it gives something of a feel for it. In warm weather, we run along paths in the woods for a couple of miles, and they are tired and happy dogs. Lenore is surprisingly fast and strong, and has no trouble keeping up with Rose and Izzy.

Come along for the ride. I am tense during these outings, because although there is virtually no traffic on my road in the winte, it only takes one car or truck. So I am vigilant. Even as cranked as they get, they know when to get off the road.